The alchemy of apocalypse: transmutation and the quest for survival

Abstract This article explores the unexpected intersections of an alchemical imaginary with the religious dynamics of Extinction Rebellion. Drawing on the ouroboros, it explores translation and transmutation, engaging Latour, Morton, and Somers in theorizing “recycled time” as a simultaneously material and narrative account of apocalypse within an “unmanageable ecology.” This is then brought into dialogue with an analysis of Extinction Rebellion as a religious movement, arguing from narrative and political perspectives that both alchemy and XR are engaged in the question of who lives, who dies, and who decides. This negotiation of agency is considered as a means to frame New Materialist religious enquiry.